Bolivia’s historical and cyclical crisis has worsened over the past 20 years, embracing virtually every field of political, economic and social life.
On the eve of the celebration of the Bicentenary of the Republic and a few weeks before the general elections of August 17, there is much talk of the “refoundation” of the State or the application of a “profound re-engineering” to it and there is no shortage of those who support an unspecified “redirection” of the “process of change”. They are, ironically, the same ones responsible for leading the country towards collapse.
A few days ago, I participated in a baptism and that millenary liturgy gave me the conviction that the Bolivian State, rather than re-founded, redirected or re-engineered, needs to be rebaptized.
A fundamental part of baptism is the questions that the celebrant asks the baptized person or, as the case may be, the parents and godparents, which consists of two parts: Do you renounce to…? And do you believe in…?
Let’s start with the renunciation. In the baptism of “bicentennial” Bolivia, we will ask its more than eleven million citizens.
DO YOU RENOUNCE to abusive authoritarianism, hatred and revenge, to outdated foreign ideologies, to power as a means to enrich yourself, your families and friends, and to the manipulation of justice and state institutions? The hottest levels of Hell await the corrupts and corrupters.
DO YOU RENOUNCE to rigid and speculative statism; to put the uncontrolled use of natural resources before the conservation of life and the environment; to promote a suffocating bureaucracy; to tolerate corruption under any pretext; to prefer ignorance and incompetence in the management of the State to academic preparation and professional experience; to maintain the universal and unsustainable subsidies that, in the end, benefit those who have more? Because there will be no leniency for these irresponsible people.
DO YOU RENOUNCE to be accomplices in the invention of political monsters again, out of naivety, personal or academic ambition, to hold public office for political or economic interests, for revenge or for the illusion of controlling them? Purgatory is full of men and women who have fallen into this temptation.
DO YOU BELIEVE in democracy and the rule of law, in the independence of powers, in the challenge of living together as a “pluri-multi” community (ethnic, cultural, social, regional, linguistic, age), in freedom of expression, in the equality of citizens in rights and duties, in ethics and transparency in public service? In short, as Pope Francis insisted, do you believe that “reality is superior to ideology“?
DO YOU BELIEVE in constructive private investment and the certainty of justice for all; in the debt that each generation owes to the next in terms of preserving environmental wealth and sustainable use of natural resources and energy sources; in the power of education and in the value of health, the financing of which is not an expense but an investment? Finally, quoting Pope Francis again, do you believe that “time is greater than space“?
DO YOU BELIEVE in peaceful coexistence, in dialogue, in mutual respect, in moral values and in the primacy of truth? In short, do you believe that “you will never find a right way to do the wrong thing” (Becky Craven)?
So, if we give up all the negative that is mentioned (and much more) and believe in the values enunciated (and others) we can surely begin together the third century of existence as an independent country with renewed hopes for true, universal and sustainable development, because “unity is greater than conflict” (Pope Francis).